


The End and Afterwards

by SleepingReader



Category: Discworld - Terry Pratchett, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-06 13:31:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18852067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepingReader/pseuds/SleepingReader
Summary: The spoiler ban's been lifted: these are all the ways Tony goes to the afterlifeWritten to get them the fuck out of my head so I can sleep goddammit.These are gonna be short, hope you enjoy!1: A Grateful Universe: Tony rests.2: DEATH: Pure fan-service from me to me. Tony gets picked up by Death from Terry Pratchett's Discworld books. Yay me.





	1. A Grateful Universe

‘We will be okay. You can rest now…’  
And with a final look into the eyes of the woman he had loved for more than half his life,Tony Stark died.

He opened his eyes to the height of an Italian summer. Warm leaves cast shadows on the ground, a brook babbled nearby. He sat on a deck, his feet dangling in the cool water, a glass of fine wine in his hand. There was no gauntlet, no Iron Man suit, no scars on his fingers. He put the glass down carefully and inspected himself.  
He was dressed for a day’s work in the lab. His favourite AC/DC t-shirt, sweatpants. He was happy to see that his wedding ring had travelled with him.  
A polite cough brought him out of his reverie.  
Tony turned around.  
A man smiled at him from a polite distance. A man with a mop of curly hair, and brown eyes. He had his hands in his pockets.  
‘Hi Tony.’  
‘Pete?’ Tony asked, standing up and walking over to him.  
‘Almost.’ The man said, grinning. And Tony immediately knew who he was talking to. They were so alike.  
‘Ben.’  
‘Yup.’  
Tony started to say something, but Ben had already hugged him.  
‘You brought back my nephew. _Thank you_ ’ he told Tony. When they broke off the hug, Tony gestured around.  
‘Heaven?’ He asked Ben.  
‘Something like that.’ Ben laughed, pointing towards the horizon. There were billions and billions of stars and planets wheeling overhead, and every time Tony tried to pick one out and focus on it, it grew bigger and he could see every little detaill.  
‘It might take a while for the others to arrive’ Ben told him. ‘And then you’d only see some of them. You can see whoever you wish, here.’  
‘Nat?’ Tony asked.  
‘Will be at the barbecue tomorrow. Only the good people are invited.’  
‘So no more networking?’  
‘No more networking. Just a party.’  
‘I _like_ it.'  
‘You saved them all, Tony. Now you get to rest.’ Ben said as he left, gesturing to the galaxies spread out before them.  
And Tony rested. He picked up his glass of wine, put his feet in the water.  
He sat down on the deck, and watched the sun rise on a grateful universe.

 

 


	2. DEATH

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Discworld's death might not be known to most of you, but he is tall, wears black, TALKS LIKE THIS, likes cats and owns a white horse named Binky.  
> 'nuff said. 
> 
> Also Tony is a discworld fan cause i am one and cause i said so.

‘We will be okay. You can rest now…’   
And with a final look into the eyes of the woman he had loved for more than half his life,Tony Stark died. 

And awoke. He was sitting- no. Hovering right next to his body, while Pepper broke down in tears and Rhodey stopped holding Peter back and stumbled forward together with him. The people, apart from Morgan and Happy, that were most important in his life surrounded him. He listened to their sobs. Tried to ruffle Peter’s hair, but the kid didn’t notice. Tried to kiss Pepper’s forehead, but she just closed his bodies eyes.   
There was no point. Tony flexed his fingers. The spectral form of the Infinity Gauntlet still sat on his hand. He willed it to drop. It vanished.   
‘Guess I’m dead then.’ The vague spectre of Tony Stark muttered. 

Other Avengers gathered round his body. Carol, the woman who had saved him in space, sat next to Peter and put her hand on his shoulder. The kid hugged her, probably out of instinct. Steve sat tired on a pile of rubble, setting his shield next to him. Sam sat across from him, followed by Barnes.   
Then, with a twinge in Tony’s unbeating heart, Nebula came forward. She picked a piece of paper out of a pocket and lay it in the hands of Tony’s body.   
‘You won.’ She said. It sounded like she was underwater.   
Thor strode forward as well, kneeling next to Tony to put a hand on his shoulder.   
‘Greet Valhalla for me, my friend.’ He spoke.   
But Tony didn’t want to go to Valhalla. Or to Heaven. Since he was young, he had only had one being in mind that could take him away. Sadly, that being existed only in books.   
So Tony Stark hovered two inches above a rock and waited for whoever was picking him up.   
And waited.

And waited. 

SORRY I’M LATE.   
The voice sounded like a vault door closing. Like the finality of the last shovel of dirt on a grave.   
Tony turned around quickly, a sigh of relief escaping his lips. He knew who was standing there. The universe had given him Death. 

Death was, for all intents and purposes, a skeleton. Tall, clad all in black and with faint blue gleams in his otherwise empty eye sockets. To say ‘him’ might be a vague area, but to Tony, Death most certainly was.   
‘You came.’ Tony breathed.  
OF COURSE. Death replied, nodding politely. He did not tell the man that he had broken a few laws to be here. The Auditors would be on his cloak-tail like magpies on a postman’s golden hat, but he did not care.   
THIS WAS QUITE THE HASSLE. Death noted, looking around at the rubble and the dead bodies.   
Tony nodded, mostly to himself. ‘Yeah…Did it work?’ He asked.  
YES. THE BEING CALLED THANOS IS ERASED.  
‘He didn’t die?’  
HE NEVER WAS.  
‘Good. That’s good.’   
THANOS’S SNAP SHATTERED MULTIVERSES. YOU BROUGHT BACK MY GRANDDAUGHTER. THERE IS MUCH TO BE DONE.   
‘But…’  
BUT NOT BY YOU.   
Tony exhaled.   
ARE YOU READY TO GO?  
‘Natasha…’  
HAS JUST BEEN PICKED UP. Death told him. Tony fell to his knees in relief. His wish to get her out of the Soul Stone had been granted, then.   
SHE IS DEAD, OF COURSE  
‘Of course.’ Tony’s relief turned to sadness again.  
BUT NOT TRAPPED ANYMORE  
‘Not trapped anymore.’ Tony repeated numbly. He really had hoped Nat would survive after all.  
SHE SAYS SEE YOU SOON

Tony stayed quiet. 

Then, after a while.  
‘I’m ready.’ 

Death severed his spirit with the sword.   
’The books said you reserved that for kings’  
I DO.  
Tony closed his eyes, and awoke again.   
There was a desert, underneath a starless sky. The mountains the books his mom had read to him had described were a whole lot closer than he had thought.   
Tony Stark began his journey.

**Author's Note:**

> If there's anything you'd like to see, hit me up!


End file.
